Former NKR foreign minister about Armenian-Russian military cooperation
“I perhaps would even praise the rebukes voiced by Mr. Sargsyan addressed to the leaders of the CSTO member states if they were preceded by substantial efforts of the Armenian side towards the prevention of the created situation,” says the former NKR Foreign Minister Arman Melikyan in an interview with “Aravot”.
“Indeed, the CSTO cannot be compared with NATO in the light of distinct decision-making mechanisms, nevertheless, even in the case of the CSTO, there should exist decision-preparation and -making operating procedures. I have never heard that Armenia in the framework of its activities in the CSTO has prepared any draft decision regarding the created situation in the contact line and put it into circulation, which would state the official stance of Armenia and our expectations from the other CSTO member states presented. This is what should have been done long ago but has not been done. I think it would not be wrong if instead of voicing rebukes with no consequences, the Armenian delegation should have insisted that the appointment of the representative of Armenia in the position of the CSTO Executive Secretary should take place, irrespective of everything. While, thus, it appears that neither the CSTO represents something serious, nor Armenia’s stance contains useful intents for our country,” says Mr. Melikyan.
He mentions that everybody knows that the core of the CSTO activities is not the idea of collective security of its all members’ common interests but the issue of military cooperation of Belarus, Armenia and the three Central Asian republics (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan), one by one, with Russia. “By and large, the strategic importance of the CSTO activity, except Russia, does not provide one common framework for the rest of its members,” he says, pointing out the recently signed Russian-Armenian agreement on common Air Defense system installation. Probably, this also should be viewed in this context”.
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Mr. Melikyan, as well as many experts, believes that the aggravated political crisis in the Russian-Turkish relations has its impact on the moves initiated by Russia for increasing the level of the military-technical provision of RF military facilities and armed forces operating in our region. “To make the appropriateness of these steps convincing for the Armenian society, it is essential to constantly show that Turkey is a source of direct military threat for Armenia. Of course, we should also have in mind the fact that the more the military potential of the Russian military base deployed in Armenia increases, the more the mindedness of Turkey and its allies to view the territory of Armenia as a military target will increase,” says Mr. Melikyan.
To our observation that the official circles of Armenia already announce that there is a war on the border rather that a ceasefire violation, so whether the agreement with Russia can have any connection with the incidents in the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and with whom the warring Armenia should try to find edges of cooperation, Mr. Melikyan replies, “In the tenure of the current government, the military and diplomatic maneuvering opportunities of Armenia will be extremely limited. In any case, if war breaks at this point in the conflict zone, Russia will be the country that would be capable of having a decisive influence on the course of hostilities. Under such development of events, the joint Air Defense system can prevent the penetration of the Turkish Air Force to the air space of Armenia or Karabakh. But there are also other types of dangers for which the use of this system for prevention is impossible or futile.”
Hripsime HOVHANNISYAN
“Aravot” daily
